“Double the Marine,” Malik said, lightly punching Alex’s uninjured shoulder.

  “Since you have your own Dana, you may understand why I disagree with this course of action. It’s shortsighted and wrong, and based on an assumption that the convergence is a fully natural phenomenon that cannot be stopped. I have reason to believe it can be stopped, and I’m including the measurements and readings captured by our recon teams to support that argument. My FUP doesn’t want to consider the possibility, but I do not doubt that you will talk your FUP into it.

  “The last item I’ve included is a star chart marking the location of the dimensional rift I traveled through to reach your universe. These rifts signify weak points in the separation between our universes, and will appear with greater frequency as the convergence progresses, until one universe reigns supreme. You can use the rift to enter my universe, the same way I entered yours. It may be necessary to uncover the source of the spacetime destabilization, as there’s currently no way to verify which universe is causing the collapse, and your best resource may be my allies in my dimension.”

  “Commander, the Basilisk has spotted us,” the offscreen crew member said. “The ship is accelerating.”

  “Contact Razone. Tell him to prepare the drone as we discussed.”

  “Aye, Commander.”

  “Our universes are similar, Captain,” Dana continued. “But they aren’t the same. My father is relentless, and that drive often leads to cruelty, even towards his own children. He knows I came to warn you. When he catches up to me…” She shook her head. “He’ll take my life to prevent me from saving yours. I can only hope you find this message before he does. Please, Captain. Our only chance at stopping war on a scale none of us has ever seen rests in your hands.”

  The video ended abruptly, Dana's image replaced by a blank screen. For a long moment, no one spoke, each lost in their own grim contemplation.

  A chill ran down Soren's spine, a sickening realization crystalizing in his gut. The attacks, the doppelgängers, the relentless pursuit, it all made a twisted sort of sense now. It was Zoe who broke the silence. “How can this be possible? How can two universes come together? How can consciousness be merged, instead of destroyed?”

  “Maybe they’re wrong,” Ethan said. “What if the convergence would cause destruction instead of combination? They can’t already know what the outcome will be. They’re just guessing.”

  “Or even lying, to make it less scary,” Tashi said.

  “Or hedging their bets,” Soren said. “If converging does kill whoever has a twin in the alternate universe, it’s better to be the last twin standing.”

  A heavy silence descended once more. Each person grappled with the magnitude of the revelation, the sheer scale of the threat they faced.

  “We need to tell the President,” Wilf said. “The Federation needs to know what’s coming.”

  “It’s already here,” Soren said. “Other systems are being hit. It's an exploratory force, I’m sure, taking a measure of our defenses.”

  "So what do we do?” Malik asked. “How do we fight something this big?"

  It was a question on everyone's minds, a desperate plea for direction in the face of an unfathomable enemy. Soren opened his mouth to reply, to offer some word of reassurance or plan of action. But before he could speak, Jack’s voice filled his head through his comms patch.

  "Captain, you're needed on the bridge. We've got company. Strike Force Seven just popped up on sensors, and they don’t look happy.”

  Soren was moving before Jack finished speaking, his fatigue forgotten in the surge of adrenaline. "On my way," he barked, already halfway to the door. He paused, looking back at the assembled crew. "We're not done here, but duty calls. All hands to ready stations.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Ethan replied, trailing behind him.

  “Jack, have they spotted us?” Soren asked as he entered the bridge. His eyes immediately flashed to the primary viewscreen, where a handful of Valkyries were repositioning in space following their jump.

  “It doesn’t look like it,” Jack replied, surrendering the command station to Soren, “but that formation isn’t standard for a counterstrike.”

  “Captain,” Samira said. “We’re being hailed.”

  Soren raised a curious eyebrow. “Maybe they do know we’re here.”

  “Or they’re guessing,” Jack suggested. “Are you going to answer it?”

  “No,” Soren replied. “But let’s keep an eye on them.” He settled back in his seat to observe.

  “Captain,” Samira said a couple of minutes later. “They’ve switched to a general hail, all channels. “ She turned to look at him over her shoulder.

  “Wait for the message to repeat and then put it on speaker,” Soren said.

  “Aye, Captain.”

  He didn’t wait long before a stern female voice emitted from the bridge’s speakers.

  “I repeat. Captain Strickland, this is Commodore Clarey of the Die Hard. We know about the experimental starship you commandeered. We know its capabilities. We also know its limitations. Please, I know you’re here. Save us the trouble of having to find you and respond to your refusal to answer our hail.”

  Soren glanced at Jack, who shrugged. “Rashad mentioned that there are certain distances and angles where the cloaking creates anomalies. And it seems they got their hands on his research.”

  “They know about the station, then,” Soren said. “I hope they don’t think we did that, trying to cover our tracks.”

  “Captain,” Mark said. “They found us.” He put the sensor display on the projector. The Navy ships were closing in around the Wraith to prevent it from moving or jumping.

  “How the hell…?” Jack said.

  “I guess I have no choice,” Soren said. “Keira, drop the cloak. Samira, open the channel they’re using.”

  “Channel open, Captain,” Samira replied as the Wraith shimmered into full view of the Navy warships.

  “Commodore Clarey,” Soren said. “This is Captain Strickland. Did Montoya tell you that you would find me here?”

  “Captain,” Clarey replied, her voice cold but tinged with admiration. “We came here to liberate PX-2847, only to find that it’s already liberated. Putting two and two together, it was an easy assumption to make.”

  “Actually, that wasn’t my doing so much as it was Alex’s. You have him to thank for that.”

  “A job well done, but I wouldn’t expect anything less from First Company, or your son.”

  “Tell me, Commander, how did you know where to maneuver your ships to block us in?”

  “That’s my little secret, Captain,” Clarey replied with a hint of amusement. “Standby for transSat from Earth. Admiral Montoya wants a word with you.”

  “Copy that.”

  “I think we’re in trouble,” Jack said.

  “Soren,” Montoya said, once the message finally arrived. “I’ve always known you to be an unpredictable risk-taker, but this time, I’m afraid you’ve gone too far. I can’t even begin to wrap my head around the number of laws you’ve broken, or describe the amount of trouble you’re in. Damn it, Soren. You should have come to me before you went off half-cocked, chasing after Dana yourself. I could have helped you before you got yourself into this mess.”

  Soren absorbed the statement before composing a return message.

  “We both know that isn’t true, Anton. Your hands are bound by chain-of-command. As a rogue operator, my hands are free. While you had Recon Three scouring mountainsides for the Valkyrie’s missing recorder, I was finding it. While Alex and his team were on Jungle fighting for survival, I made it here just in time to save their lives and help them defeat the invaders. You were ready to send the Wraith to the scrapyard, while I’ve used her to destroy multiple enemy warships. I understand I broke laws and protocols, and for that I’m willing to face the consequences. But not today. I have valuable information about the threat we’re facing. Actionable information. This isn’t just about Dana. It’s not hyperbole when I say that our entire universe is at stake.”

  He nodded to Samira to send the message. They waited nearly ten minutes for the response to come back.

  “We’ve known one another for a long time, Soren. I admire and respect you as a commanding officer and a friend. If it were up to me, I would let you go on your merry way. Hell, I would even help you do it. But it isn’t up to me. Like you said, my hands are tied. I have orders, and I have to carry them out. I know you understand.”

  Soren glanced at Jack. They both knew what came next.

  “Surrender immediately or be destroyed.”

  Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the book! For more information on the next installment in the series, please visit mrforbes.com/convergencewar2

  OTHER BOOKS BY M.R FORBES

  Want more M.R. Forbes? Of course you do!

  View my complete catalog here

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  Starship For Sale (Starship For Sale)

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  When Ben Murdock receives a text message offering a fully operational starship for sale, he’s certain it has to be a joke.

  Already trapped in the worst day of his life and desperate for a way out, he decides to play along. Except there is no joke. The starship is real. And Ben’s life is going to change in ways he never dreamed possible.

  All he has to do is sign the contract.

  Joined by his streetwise best friend and a bizarre tenant with an unseverable lease, he’ll soon discover that the universe is more volatile, treacherous, and awesome than he ever imagined.

  And the only thing harder than owning a starship is staying alive.

  Forgotten (The Forgotten)

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  Some things are better off FORGOTTEN.

  Sheriff Hayden Duke was born on the Pilgrim, and he expects to die on the Pilgrim, like his father, and his father before him.

  That's the way things are on a generation starship centuries from home. He's never questioned it. Never thought about it. And why bother? Access points to the ship's controls are sealed, the systems that guide her automated and out of reach. It isn't perfect, but he has all he needs to be content.

  Until a malfunction forces his wife to the edge of the habitable zone to inspect the damage.

  Until she contacts him, breathless and terrified, to tell him she found a body, and it doesn't belong to anyone on board.

  Until he arrives at the scene and discovers both his wife and the body are gone.

  The only clue? A bloody handprint beneath a hatch that hasn't opened in hundreds of years.

  Until now.

  Deliverance (Forgotten Colony)

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  Complete series box set:

  The war is over. Earth is lost. Running is the only option.

  It may already be too late.

  Caleb is a former Marine Raider and commander of the Vultures, a search and rescue team that's spent the last two years pulling high-value targets out of alien-ravaged cities and shipping them off-world.

  When his new orders call for him to join forty-thousand survivors aboard the last starship out, he thinks his days of fighting are over. The Deliverance represents a fresh start and a chance to leave the war behind for good.

  Except the war won't be as easy to escape as he thought.

  And the colony will need a man like Caleb more than he ever imagined...

  Man of War (Rebellion)

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  In the year 2280, an alien fleet attacked the Earth.

  Their weapons were unstoppable, their defenses unbreakable.

  Our technology was inferior, our militaries overwhelmed.

  Only one starship escaped before civilization fell.

  Earth was lost.

  It was never forgotten.

  Fifty-two years have passed.

  A message from home has been received.

  The time to fight for what is ours has come.

  Welcome to the rebellion.

  Hell’s Rejects (Chaos of the Covenant)

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  The most powerful starships ever constructed are gone. Thousands are dead. A fleet is in ruins. The attackers are unknown. The orders are clear: Recover the ships. Bury the bastards who stole them.

  Lieutenant Abigail Cage never expected to find herself in Hell. As a Highly Specialized Operational Combatant, she was one of the most respected Marines in the military. Now she's doing hard labor on the most miserable planet in the universe.

  Not for long.

  The Earth Republic is looking for the most dangerous individuals it can control. The best of the worst, and Abbey happens to be one of them. The deal is simple: Bring back the starships, earn your freedom. Try to run, you die. It's a suicide mission, but she has nothing to lose.

  The only problem? There's a new threat in the galaxy. One with a power unlike anything anyone has ever seen. One that's been waiting for this moment for a very, very, long time. And they want Abbey, too.

  Be careful what you wish for.

  They say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. They have no idea.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  M.R. Forbes is the mind behind a growing number of Amazon best-selling science fiction series. Having spent his childhood trying to read every sci-fi novel he could find (and write his own too), play every sci-fi video game he could get his hands on, and see every sci-fi movie that made it into the theater, he has a true love of the genre across every medium. He works hard to bring that same energy to his own stories, with a continuing goal to entertain, delight, fascinate, and surprise.

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  M.R. Forbes, Wraith (The Convergence War Book 1)

 

 

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